Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Spent the day at the beach with the new baby and the wife. On the way home I remembered a spot that in passing looked really promising, and my wife was cool enough to humor me soooooooo I pulled of the road to check it out. Eight minutes out of the car and through a hole in a fence I flipped my first Long Beach Cal King. I gotta say, even though I had high hopes I really didn't expect to find this.... Much less in such good shape.

As a rule I dont keep what I find when herping, but this guy - as will be a mate when I find one, are the exception.

The idea of finding a King in such an over developed area has me really stoked, and I've done alot of looking in the Long Beach and Signal Hill areas but developers have totally devastated a once flourishing habitat...

WOW! Awesome find and awesome king. Things must be looking up for board flipping in S. CAlif. Has it rained lately?

Wow!!,....you can honestly say you "had a good day at the beach"!. It's not every day you find "treasure" there!LOL
Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

That is a nice king and any king in Long Beach is a good find but I am not seeing what makes it a grease king. The cream bands look very clean to me. Not all kings from Long Beach are grease phase. Grease kings have dark pigment suffused in the cream making it look like the snake was smeared with grease, hence the name.
Maybe it's just the picture or the lighting or maybe I need to see it next to a normal Long Beach king but I just see a nice normal cal king with narrow bands. I'm not trying to put it down but what makes that a grease king?

Maybe it's just the picture or the lighting or maybe I need to see it next to a normal Long Beach king but I just see a nice normal cal king with narrow bands. I'm not trying to put it down but what makes that a grease king?

Aaron,

I think all those little pocket communities have their own look.

I know but I think he (and maybe you) don't know what a grease king is. Grease kings are hypermelanistics just like the Davis' and Mendotas except the grease kings are from Los Angeles county and are typically banded. And just like Davis' and Mendotas it is probably a simple recessive trait since they are found side by side with normals. Occasionally grease kings are abberrant but the abberrancies don't appear to be linked the the hypermelanism as it is in Mendota and Davis'.

You are right. I thought a grease king was a new term for Long Beach Cal King.

I see what you mean about the color on this guy, and it does in fact have very dark pigment between and on the edges of the scales but in patches. This snake is also pretty small and the two Grease Phase Cal's that I've seen were both large and much older animals..
There was also a very young Cal that I was told was collected in the same field as the two adults and it looked very much like mine ( not very dark or dirty ). Do you think it's possible that the pigment darkens with age???
Also, do you know if the Grease Phase Cal's were most commonly seen in Signal Hill as opposed to lower coastal Long Beach??
The two I referred to were found at the very top of the hill..

The photos here were shot through glass with a hot flash that did wash him out quite a bit.

I appreciate your input on this and if you have more info please let me know.

thanks man!
byron.d

Well normal cals often have dark pigment between the scales in the cream bands so I don't think that means much. When you see a grease king I think it will be pretty obvious. I haven't hunted Long Beach area but I have found the hypermelanistics in the central CA valley and it's pretty obvious when you find a true one. I have seen pics of several grease kings from Los Angeles and south but I was not given exact locality so I can't say where the best place to find them is. I do wish you luck in finding one as they are poorly represented in collections. I believe it's inheritable so the one you found would make a good mate for a grease king if you can find one. Thanks also for not taking offense to my post.

As to weather they develop the melanin as they grow. Not as far as I know. I have never kept or know anybody who has kept Long Beach (or Los Angeles area) grease kings from hatching but I know with the Davis' and Mendota the extra melanin is there at hatching.

I'll keep an eye on this guys as he grows and see what happens..

The two adult grease kings that I've seen were collected as adults in Signal Hill about 13 years ago, and according to the collector havent gotten any darker. I dont know what's become of the juvenile that was collected in the same area though.

Thanks again Aaron!

byron.d

This is a greese king -

www.californiaherps.com/snakes/images/lgcaliforniaelbmelbhubbs05.jpg

I want one or three.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

There are some really great locality cal king photos on the californiaherps page - i that that's were you got this one....

byron.d

and an awesome looking one at that!
Todd Hughes

I've talked to some old timers and narrowed down the general areas where the grease kings were found in the past. Unfortunately the 'sweet spot' has been almost completely developed over the past few years. I've hunted whats left of it and all I find there are a few lizards and lots of rats - at least the food source survived....
The other spot - were I found my king, is alittle harder to get into and hunt due to legal issues.....

Thanks again for the info!

byron.d

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